Display package



Dec. 19, 1967 H. WM. FAlRBAlRN 2 DISPLAY PACKAGE Filed Jan. 4, 1967 2Sheets-Sheet 2 5 P 17 9 17 i a m I I I l a i l I 27 I 27 f 17 9 17 ii 9{7 2A 2 4 54 4 He. 2 l 23" 22 23 INVENTOR ww FMRBMRN Mwhjmebdll flim'wwsATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,358,820 DISPLAY PACKAGE Howard Wm.Fairbairn, Dallington, England, assignor to The Mettoy Company Limited,London, England, a

British company Filed Jan. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 607,279 Claims priority,application Great Britain, Jan. 4, 1966, 280/66 6 Claims.(Cl.-206-45.31)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The specification describes a bubble packagefor articles of merchandise, so constructed from a single blank of sheetmaterial and a shaped piece of transparent material, that the contentsof the pack are completely enclosed, and yet visible, and can be removedand replaced without destroying the package. The blank is formed into anL-shape the base of which acts as a support for the contents of thepack, and the upright of which has a hole for insertion and removal ofthe contents. This hole is closable by means of a rear cover hinged tothe upper edge of the upright and releasable engageable, at its loweredge, with the base of the L. This base can be made of box-likeconstruction, for greater strength, by providing further panel portionson the original blank.

This invention relates to display packages which can totally enclose anarticle yet allow the article to be seen.

Display packages for articles of merchandise common- 1y comprise asupport part formed from sheet material, usually cardboard, Bristolboard or other stiflf paper material, to which is secured a display partformed of transparent sheet material forming a bubble or housingenclosing the article. Usually, the article can only be removed from thepackage by destroying the package, and it is not possible to remove thearticle, say for inspection, return it to the package and reclose thepackage.

It has also been proposed in British patent specification 1,014,946 toprovide such a package with a movable slide for movement between oneposition in which it uncovers an aperture for removal or replacement ofthe article, and another position in which it covers the aperture toclose the package. This package is satisfactory in most respects, butits manufacture and assembly is complicated by the fact that the flaphas to be formed separately, thus increasing the number of componentparts of the pack and complicating its assembly.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a displaypackage of the general character described above, which is adapted topermit re-use of the package after removal of its contents, whichemploys a minimum number of components and which is readily made so asto be substantially more rigid in its construction than the previouslyknown packages described above.

The invention resides broadly in the provision of a display packagecomprising a support formed of a sheet of flexible material shaped tohave a base portion and a rear panel, and display part formed oftransparent sheet material secured to said base portion and rear panelto form a housing therewith, said rear panel having an aperture thereinfor access to the interior of said housing, and said support alsoincluding a rear cover hinged to said rear panel, and means forreleasably retaining said rear cover in a position in which it isdisposed to the rear of said rear panel and overlies said aperture toclose said housing.

With this construction, the support part is formed from a single blankof sheet material, and its rigidity is increased by virtue of itsgeneral L-shape, reinforced by the display part.

3,358,820 Patented Dec. 19, 1967 The strength of the package may befurther increased by giving the base an integral box-like construction,which can be readily be achieved by providing additional panels on thesupport part blank.

Two embodiments of the invention are described below with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a blank from which a part of one form of display packagein accordance with the invention is formed;

FIGURES 2 and 3 are diagrammatic plan and elevational views respectivelyof another part of the display package;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged sectional view through the display package;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are views corresponding to FIG- URES 1 and 4 of a secondform of package in accord ance with the invention; and

FIGURE 7 is a front view of the pack-age of FIG- URE 6. p

The display package part 1 (see FIGURES 2, 3 and 4) is of a stiff,transparent plastics material shaped to form the top wall 2, the frontwall 3 and the two end walls 4 of a rectangular box. A horizontal flange5 extends outwardly of the box from the bottom edge of walls 3, 4; and avertical flange 6 extends outwardly of the box from the rear edge ofWalls 2, 4.

FIGURE 1 shows a blank 7 cut from cardboard or similar sheet material,the broken lines indicating score lines in the blank. The blank isfolded as shown in FIG- URE 4, the flanges 5 and 6 of part 1 beingadhesively secured to the base portion or panel 8 and the rear panel 9respectively of the cardboard, thus constituting a complete box forenclosing the article to be packaged. The rear wall of this box isconstituted by a flap 10, hinged to the panel 9 by a score line 11, ahole 12 in panel 8 giving access to the lower edge of this flap. Theflap 10 is normally covered by rear cover panel 13, which is retained inposition by the engagement of a flap 14 with a tongue 15 formed out ofthe panel 8. When the panel 13 is bent back about the score line 16, theflap 10 can be hinged rearwardly to allow removal and replacement of thearticle, without damage to the package.

Holes 17 in the panel 9 and rear cover 13 allow the display package tobe hung from self-service racks or the like. Alternatively the displaypackage can stand upright on panel or base portion 8. Since panels 9 and13, 8 and 14 (rear and base walls respectively of the box) are ofdouble-thickness cardboard, and transparent part 1 is of stiff plasticsmaterial, the display package is quite strong. When the display packagesnest in pairs (see FIG- URE 4) only fractionally more space is requiredthan that required for two simple boxes of similar capacity. Thesurfaces of the part 7 which are normally exposed to view are allconstituted by one face of the cardboard blank, so that printing,coating or other decoration can be confined to this one face.

The article enclosed by the display package is clearly visible fromthree sides.

The modified display package shown in FIGURES 6 and 7 is formed from theblank 7A showing FIGURE 5. The upper portion of the blank is generallysimilar to that of FIGURE 1, but the blank includes an edge panel 21,lower base panel 22 and an edge panel 23, all hinged together by scorelines. A flap 24 is also hinged to the panel 23. To the lateral edges ofpanel 8 are hinged side panels 26, each having a hinged flap 27. Whenthe panels 21, 22, 23, 24 and 26 are bent backwards about theirrespective score lines, the flap 24 adhered to the rear surface of thepanel 8, and the flaps 2 7 tucked in, a boxlike base is formed which ismore rigid than the single base panel 8 of the package of FIGURE 1. Thehole 12 and tongue 15 are now formed in the lower base panel 22, againstwhich the tongue 14 will be located.

A further modification is shown in FIGURE 7, in which the top wall 2 isshaped to conform more closely to the shape of the particular article tobe displayed. In this case, the end portions 2A of the top wall areofiset vertically from the central portion.

I claim:

1. A display package comprising a support formed of a sheet of flexiblematerial having a base portion and a rear panel positioned in a planetransverse to said base portion, and a display part formed oftransparent sheet material secured to said base portion and rear panelto form a housing therewith, said rear panel having an aperture thereinfor access to the interior of said housing, and said support alsoincluding a rear cover hinged to said rear panel, and means forreleasably retaining said rear cover in a position in which it isdisposed to the rear of said rear panel and overlies said aperture toclose said housing.

2. A display package as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rear panelcomprises a flap hinged along one edge to the remainder of said rearpanel, said flap normally filling said aperture.

3. A display package comprising a support and a display part, saidsupport being made of flexible sheet material and including a baseportion, a rear panel having one edge connected to an edge of said baseportion, said rear panel extending substantially perpendicular to saidbase portion, a rear cover having one edge hingedly connected to saidrear panel along an edge opposite said one edge of said rear panel, saidcover panel overlying said rear panel to the rear thereof and having aflap releasably retained by said base portion, said rear panel having anaperture therein and a flap hinged to the remainder of said rear paneland adapted to fill said aperture, and said display part comprising asheet of transparent material shaped and secured to said base portionand rear panel in such a manner as to define a housing, said housingnormally being closed by said flap and said rear cover.

4. A display package as claimed in claim 1, wherein said base portion isof double-Walled construction, and comprises a pair of spaced basepanels connected together by said panels extending along opposite pairsof adjacent edges of said base panels.

5. A display package comprising a support part formed of flexible sheetmaterial and having two limbs extending in mutually transverse planes,and a display part formed of transparent sheet material, said displaypart having peripheral portions disposed in two mutually transverseplanes, each portion being secured to one of the limbs of said supportpart, whereby said support part and said display part together form ahousing.

6. A display package as claimed in claim 5 in which one of said limbs isin the form of a box providing a rigid base for said package.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,568,625 9/1951 Harvey 206782,813,624 11/1957 Phipps 2G6-78 2,985,296 5/1961 Kahn 20678 3,044,6187/1962 Surlolf 2()6-8O 3,178,019 4/1965 Fetzek 20678 3,198,681 8/ 1965Watts 206-78 THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, JAMES B. MARBERT,

Examiners.

1. A DISPLAY PACKAGE COMPRISING A SUPPORT FORMED OF A SHEET OF FLEXIBLEMATERIAL HAVING A BASE PORTION AND A REAR PANEL POSITIONED IN A PLANETRANSVERSE TO SAID BASE PORTION, AND A DISPLAY PART FORMED OFTRANSPARENT SHEET MATERIAL SECURED TO SAID BASE PORTION AND REAR PANELTO FORM A HOUSING THEREWITH, SAID REAR PANEL HAVING AN APERTURE THEREINFOR ACCESS TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID HOUSING, AND SAID SUPPORT ALSOINCLUDING A REAR COVER HINGED TO SAID REAR PANEL, AND MEANS FORRELEASABLY RETAINING SAID REAR COVER IN A POSITION IN WHICH IT ISDISPOSED TO THE REAR OF SAID REAR PANEL AND OVERLIES SAID APERTURE TOCLOSE SAID HOUSING.